


Why Not?

by Ann_Drist



Category: Agent Carter (TV), Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angst, Angst and Humor, Bad First Date, Dementia, F/M, Humor, SUFFER WITH ME, Setting: early in The Winter Soldier--if Sharon had said 'yes' to coffee, Steve's list, Takes place before Nick Fury comes to his apartment and before Steve meets The Winter Soldier/Bucky, attempted Steve/Sharon, brace yourself for feelings, nursing home, past Peggy Carter/Gabe Jones - Freeform, so many feelings, there is a coffee shop, this fic is a major bummer that will stab you in the feels, this is not a coffee shop AU, wow this fic sounds fun doesn't it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-07
Updated: 2018-01-07
Packaged: 2019-02-27 13:35:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13249299
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ann_Drist/pseuds/Ann_Drist
Summary: Steve makes an attempt to move on with the pretty blond woman who lives in his building. It is not successful.





	Why Not?

She said yes. Steve had never felt such a rush of relief and anxiety at the same time. 

Well.

Technically she’d said, “Why not?” and smiled. 

“Why not?” Like it was no big deal. Just casual. The kind of decision you’d make in five seconds. 

Casual. No big deal. 

His chest felt tight. 

He pulled out his phone. After a while it buzzed with a reply from Nat. “take a deep breath. you got this :)”

Steve managed to exhale, shakily. He spotted a familiar blond head and shoved his phone in his pocket. He smiled and opened the door for his date. 

_It’s just coffee,_ he told himself as he followed Sharon inside. _What could go wrong?_

 

 

Only a few minutes in Steve was already nervy. Halfway into his coffee, bouncing his knee so fast it was almost a blur. 

“I can’t believe I’m having a coffee with _Captain America_.” Sharon’s smile reminded him of another woman, the blond private who’d cornered and kissed him. 

He laughed nervously. “Well, it’s the weekend, so today I’m just Steve.”

She stirred her coffee. “Just Steve?” 

He nodded. 

“Okay, tell you what. I’ll pretend I haven’t read your file, and we’ll just get to know each other like two normal people.” 

The jiggling of his knee slowed. “Yeah. Yeah, I’d like that.” 

“So, _Steve,_ ” she smiled indulgently. He looked down at the table and blushed. “How do you like DC?” 

“It’s beautiful. So much history here. There’s a museum for everything you can think of. Gets pretty humid in the summer, though. And getting stuck behind presidential motorcades, that can get annoying.” 

“Did you grow up here?” 

“No, I’m just a kid from Brooklyn.” 

“What brought you to DC?” 

“I…had only ever lived in Brooklyn, but then I joined the army and went overseas. When I, uh, eventually came back, I didn’t wanna just stay in New York anymore. Too familiar and different at the same time.” He sipped his coffee. “Plus, once aliens attack a place, really makes you consider a change of scenery.” 

That got a laugh out of Sharon. Steve felt inordinately pleased. He scratched behind his ear. “Besides, I ah, have a friend who lives in DC now. It’s nice to be close.” 

“You’ve been so busy _saving the world,_ I’m surprised you’ve had time to meet people.” She tapped her fingers against the paper cup. “Did you meet your friend through work? Anyone I know?” 

Steve’s whole face turned pink, and he hesitated to answer. 

 

 

 

_Definitely a girl, definitely one he has a crush on,_ Sharon registered with disappointment. She’d been hoping this would lead to a follow-up date, but she wasn’t interested in coming second to someone else. Sharon kept the smile on her face as she quickly ran through women Steve could’ve met through work. Maria Hill? But she was so boring and professional. Black Widow? Sharon didn’t think a shy guy like Rogers would go for a sexy, ruthless assassin who played things close to the chest. 

“I met her through work, but she’s not with SHIELD anymore. I doubt you know her.” 

“Oh.” That ruled out Maria and Natasha. Well. Maybe if it wasn’t someone Sharon worked with, it wouldn’t be that weird to date Captain—Steve. “So, is she with a different agency now? Or did she switch fields entirely?” 

“She’s…not working right now. Has some problems with her health.” 

“Oh.” 

“That’s why I wanted to be close. She probably doesn’t have much time left.” Steve said that last part quickly, like ripping off a band-aid. 

“Oh, Steve. I’m so sorry.” 

He nodded and gripped his coffee, staring down at the table. 

“You know, I’m sure it means a lot to her that you’re there for her.” 

“Yeah. I think she has family here, but they don’t visit much.” Steve took a shuddering breath. “She has memory problems? So that makes it…hard. Most of the time she remembers that I’m here, but sometimes she forgets I moved down here? So it’s like she’s seeing me again for the first time in so long—”

Steve wiped the heel of his palm across his cheeks. He cleared his throat, looking embarrassed. “You know, I was nervous about this date going badly, but I didn’t think I’d wind up crying during it.” 

Sharon couldn’t help chuckling. “I’m sorry, Steve. I was too nosy. This is a pretty heavy for first-date conversation. I shouldn’t have pushed.” 

“No, it’s okay. I’m glad I can talk about this stuff with you.” 

Sharon shifted the conversation to lighter topics. Steve seemed grateful and a bit more relaxed. When he asked her what she recommended to check out around DC, she was the one who got flustered. “Oh, I don’t really go out that much. Work is just so crazy and draining, and sometimes it’s hard to meet people who aren’t intimidated by the whole _secret agent_ thing—” 

“Maybe we should go out on the town sometime. See what there is to see.” 

Her face felt hot. “Y-yeah. That would be nice.” _Success!_

 

 

Walking home from the coffee shop, Sharon kept going back to that heart-wrenching story about Steve’s friend. He obviously hadn’t wanted to reveal private details, but Sharon could guess it was a SHIELD field agent who’d gotten injured in the line of duty. Maybe had suffered a head injury that caused memory issues. 

Sharon forced herself to admit that before today, she hadn’t thought about what Captain America would be like as a person. She had been excited to meet a national hero, but had to shamefacedly acknowledge she’d pictured him as a real-life GI Joe doll. Handsome, muscular, and never without a dazzling smile. Part of that expectation probably had to do with the vintage Captain America poster that hung on her bedroom door as a teenager. She hadn’t though about it until now, but he’d probably been her first crush. 

Wow. She thought Agent Coulson had been cringeworthy with those trading cards and his hero-worship of Captain America. She had to do better if she was going to have any kind of real connection with Cap—Steve. She had to get to know him as a person, and put to the side this girlish ideal of a perfect action hero who never stopped smiling. 

She was pleasantly surprised at how sensitive he’d turned out to be. Usually men she dated were hell-bent on proving their manliness. But Steve had been vulnerable and emotionally open on the very first date. 

Hell, he may even be more in touch with his feelings than she was. Sharon realized she kept thinking about his friend because it reminded her of Aunt Peggy. That was why she felt guilty when he mentioned visiting his friend even when it was tough. 

Ostensibly, Sharon had stayed in DC to be close to her oldest living relative. But as Aunt Peggy’s dementia got worse, Sharon found herself avoiding her. It was tough visiting alone. When Aunt Peggy saw the woman before her—late twenties, with shoulder-length blond hair, brown eyes and a strong jaw—she saw her nephew’s wife Amanda, not her grand-niece Sharon. It was strange and upsetting to be called her mother’s name. Sharon was always torn between making Aunt Peggy feel comfortable or delivering the disconcerting news—again—that her memory was playing tricks on her her. 

Sharon checked her watch. It was only 4:30. The nursing home would be serving dinner soon. Time to stop putting this off.

 

 

When she stepped into the dining hall, Sharon was startled to see a tall, well-built blond man leaning over and talking to a resident. _Is that really Steve? Am I crushing so hard that every buff blond over 6 foot makes me think of him? Nope, that’s definitely Steve. What the hell? Is he stalking me? No, I didn’t tell him I was coming here._

It must be a coincidence. Maybe he had family still living? With a lurch, Sharon realized she’d never considered the possibility Steve had siblings. He’d been in cryo for so long, they must be old enough to be his grandparents now. 

Without realizing it, Sharon had kept walking straight towards him. Steve seemed equally surprised to see her. An uncertain smile flitted across his face. “Sharon. Uh, this is the friend I was telling you about.” 

Sharon looked past his massive shoulders and froze. “That’s my Aunt Peggy.” 

 

 

Out in the hallway, Sharon paced briskly away from the dining room. She breathed in deep through her nose and exhaled through her mouth, puffing her cheeks out. _What the hell_. When she got to the main foyer she paused and settled for pacing its perimeter. She couldn’t just leave without speaking to Aunt Peggy. It wasn’t her fault that Steve was—what _was_ Steve doing here? 

A huge frame on one wall drew Sharon’s eye. It held a collage of snapshots, all of the same event. They’d had a dance right here in the foyer, with someone sitting at the baby grand piano and a small band clustered around it. 

Steve was in one of the photos. He towered over every stoop-shouldered resident. His hair was longer. And standing in his arms, Aunt Peggy was beaming up at him. Sharon hadn’t seen that kind of joy on her face since Uncle Gabe passed. 

Oh _god_. What in the name of Benjamin Button—

A man cleared his throat. Sharon spun around to see Steve standing a few paces away. 

She pointed at the photo. “So am I to understand that your ‘friend’ I was so jealous of is my octogenarian, World War II vet great-aunt?” 

“Oh, I can see how upsetting that would be, considering how close you are. She turned _ninety-three_ on her last birthday. Did you even send a card?” 

Sharon’s mouth fell open, then shut in a firm line. “You’re lecturing me about doing my family duty? Seriously?” 

“Obviously somebody needs to.” Steve had a nasty sneer on his face. 

“You…are being awfully defensive of her.” 

Steve shrugged. 

Something clicked in her head. “Are you in love with her?”

Steve looked like he’d stepped on a nail. He didn’t say anything. Sharon stared at him in silence as her optimistic mood faded away. 

“…I don’t think we should go on that second date.” 

“Yeah. That’s probably for the best.” 

“Um. I don’t want to make things weird for you with Peggy.”

It felt so wrong to hear him call her aunt by her first name. Sharon felt a flash of possessiveness, and didn’t know if it was directed towards Aunt Peggy or Steve. 

“If you want, we can keep in touch, just to make sure that I’m not here when you come by.” 

“Wow, you really do care about her.” 

“First woman I ever fell in love with,” Steve said softly. 

Oh, _no_. Sharon wanted no part of this. This was the nail in the coffin of her teen crush on a superhero. “That would be nice, actually. I’ll feel a lot better about coming by if I know you’re not here.” 

“No problem.” God, he looked dejected. Like a puppy on the side of the road. 

“You know, I bet Natasha can set you up with someone. I’m like, the only single woman in DC who’s related to Aunt Peggy. You’ll have better luck next time.”

Steve avoided her eyes. “I’m not ready to move on. I don’t think I will be, until she—” He blinked rapidly. “I just want to spend as much time with her as possible. I know I’d regret it if I didn’t.” 

Sharon surprised herself by reaching up and patting his back. “Oh, Steve.” 

He forced a smile. “I’m sorry things didn’t go the way you wanted.” 

Sharon smiled back a sadly but kept her tone bright. “Maybe someday I’ll meet a man who’ll stay in love with me until I’m 93.” 

Steve let out a laugh that sounded a little too much like a sob. “Why don’t you go and have your visit with her? I’ll stay out here.” 

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, you’re family.” Steve winced. “Besides, I was here yesterday.” 

 

 

Steve watched Sharon leave. Once she was out of sight, he buried his head in his hands. _Jesus Christ_. In all of his anxiety-induced visions of worst-case scenarios for their first date, he’d never imagined anything this abysmal. 

His phone buzzed in his pocket. He’d never been so grateful to be distracted. 

“Hey Sam.” He rubbed his eyes. “Dinner would be great. Wanna check out that Thai place you were telling me about?” 

He stood up and fished for his keys. “How did my—did Nat tell you about the date? Typical. No, it did not go well. I’m not gonna tell you the horror story over dinner. God, Sam, someday I’m going to be able to laugh about this, but not today. You don’t even wanna know.” 

**Author's Note:**

> In the MCU, Steve and Sharon's romantic subplot was awkward and rushed. It's presented as something we should root for, but considering that it comes RIGHT on the heels of Peggy's death, I interpret that (shitty, rushed) writing as Steve and Sharon clinging to each other during a time of grief. They're connected by what they have in common, and the most notable thing they have in common is Peggy. 
> 
> Anyways. This started as a humorous idea of the wacky misunderstandings that would ensue if Sharon actually had said yes to coffee early in The Winter Soldier, and Steve had found out that Sharon was related to Peggy before Peggy's funeral. (what the FUCK, Civil War?) It turned into a much deeper exploration about both characters' feelings about Peggy. 
> 
> Sharon gets such little MCU screentime, and her main function is helping Steve. I wanted to explore Sharon's feelings a bit more and speculate on why she might be drawn to Steve (other than the obvious: he's hot and he's Captain America). 
> 
> Lemme know if you uh...liked it? Not the cute fluff I normally write, but I enjoyed digging into the character's emotions. If you didn't like it, you don't have to tell me about it ;P No flames plz. 
> 
> P.S. Steve and Peggy finally got to have that dance, let's all cry together.


End file.
